Apparatus for thermal water purification.



H. F. HODGE S.

APPARATUS FOR THERMAL WATER PURIFICATION.

APPLICATION FILED FEB, 18, 1913.

1,083,749. Patented Jan.6,1914;

2 SHEETS-BEEET 1.

WITNESSES H ZNVENTOR I a flanaae/fas HLF. HODGES.

APPARATUS FOR THERMAL WATER PURIFICATION. APPLIOATIONIILED PEB.18, 1912.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

1,083,740. Patented Jan. 6, 1914.

WITNESSES [NVENTORJ Horace f /%a yes y 24,

- UNITED s'rArEs PATENT mm.-

HOBAGEIQHODQES, OF PHILADELPH IA, PENNSYLVANIA ASSIGNQB T PURE WATERAPPARATUS COMPANY, OF HHILADELBHLA; PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPQBATIOH' OFDELAWARE.

nirnnn'rcs FOR THERM L wnrnasumrrcuron;

Patented Jan. 6; 1914. Serial No. 749,114.

To all io'hom it may concern Be it known that I, Homes F. Honors, a v

' citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the countyof Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Apparatus for Thermal Water Purification, ofwhich the following is'a Specification.

In the distillation of water by processes 10 and apparatus such, forinstance, as set forth in the Patents Nos; 798,901, 7 98,964, 7 99,002

and 799,003, granted in part to me as coinventor, it'is very dsirablethat the impurities, and especially the mineral impurities, such asthecarbonates and sulfates of the alkaline earths and other salts, beeliminated by a preliminary purification, so as to avoidfprecipitatingthese impurities in the still and fouling its condensing surfaces withscale; In a prior application filed by me June 25, 1912, Serial No.705,714, I'have described and claimed a process for eliminatin theseimpurities from the winter before being admitted to the still, whichprocess proceeds along the known method of purifvug-by thermalprecipitation in which the soluble mineral impurities are converted byheat into insoluble forms which are precipitated, or thrown down, andthus eliminated, the purpose in mind being to so apply the heat to thewater that'the resulting precipitate cannot impair the efiiciency of theapparatus by. the formation of scale on heat "conducting surfaces, aswould be the case with a coil or other arrangement without my invention.The process described in hat application'provides for the continuouspuri; fication of water and elimination of gases "while initransit andone designed to meet 40 the different conditions under which thecarbonates and sulfates are eliminated as regardsthe peculiar chemicaland physical conditions of precipitation which characterize thesetwo'difi'erent groups of chemical substances; that is to say, in generalterms. said process provided for the treatment of the water to bepurified by subjecting it to heat and pressure in two different stagesof heat and pressure, i. (2., arelativelv low 5 temperature and pressureto precipitate the carbonates, and a second higher temperatui'e andpressure to precipitatethe sulfates,

and provided also for economically and auto- 1 maticallyreducing thetemperature and pressure before turning the purified water into thestill and also for returning the dis engaged steam to the apparatus ofthe first: stage to aid n the heating and precipitation of the carbonateimpurities and for also further cooling the purified water Withoutexposure to air, or the use of surface condenscrs. My present inventionprovides apparatus for carrying said process into useful efie'ct, as wll'be hereina el ,mQle' fully described'tfiwith reference to thedrawings, in which:

Figure l is a side elevation of an apparatus for carrying'out myinvention, the view being partly broken away; Fig. 2, a plan view of thesame. Fig. 3, a sectional detail ofa pressure regulating"and-reducingvalve employed in the process. Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional detailofthe upper part of the apparatus with automatic gas venting tion. I

In thcdrawing A is a container in which the prec pitation of the'ulkalineearth carbonates 1n the first stage of the operation is carriedout, and 'A a, similar container in 80,. which the precipitation of thealkaline earth sulfates in the second stage of the operation is carriedout. These containers are-preferably upright closed cylinders of boileriron. having tapering bottoms and blow-01f or discharge pipes withvalves a and a in said bottoms by which the precipitated sediment isremoved. and also removable-plates a acting as manholes. Thesecontainers are v valve, and Fig. 5 is a detail of a modifica- 7-5 heldin upright suspended position bysany suitable means. preferably flangedplates p, Fig. 2, riveted to the sides'of the container on 'cach sideand resting upon side walls or horizontal I-beams- Z.-

- D'is a force pump whichtakes thexpar, tially purified water from thefirst container A ond'forces-it into the other container A), where it istreated at a higher temperature and pressure. and 'l-ison expansiontankwhich receives the purified water from-"the 10o container A andthrough nr'essureree'u'lat-"f 7 inc rcducinfl valves and float valve.jher'eafter described, reduces the pressure, cools the purifidd waterwithout contact with' the to the first container, as will be more fullyair and without a surface condenser, or surfaces liable to beincrustedwith scale, and passes the disengaged steam of low pressuredescribed-hereafter. The two containers are built substantially alike.Each has suspended in it a pendent cylinder B and B supportedconcentrically within. the same from the top of the container by meansof a flanged collar 1) and I), the-opening in the top of the containerbeing larger than the .diameter of cylinders B, B for the purposehereafter described, and said cylinders rising above and protruding fromthe top of the eontainera short distance, as shown, and descending atits lower end to a point near the bottom of the containers. Thecylinders B and B are closed at their upper ends and open at their lowerends and form a centralzone for water of limited cross sectionsurrounded by a concentric zone of much-larger cross section Incommunicatlon with each other at the bottom. l

Into the cylinder B fromthetop there descends a short distance 'an inletpipe X for raw water to be purified. An inlet pipe Y for steam of lowpressure, approximately two pounds, takes steam from the tail end of thestill, not shown, but referred to in the:

aforementioned patents, or from any other source. Thissteam pipe carriesthe steam which effects the heating of the water in cylinder B andcontainer-A to about 210 to- :212-F. The lower end of steam pipe Y:opens'into the lower end of a sleeve B con- ,centricallysupported incylinder B and open at both ends, and as-thissteam jenters'the water insleeve-B it actsthereuponto precipitate the alkaline carbonates whichare thrown down at this temperature, the water -passing firstup in thesleeve B and then down in'the' concentric annular space between sleeve13 and cylinderJl and out i through the bottom of cylinder Band risingwith a slow motion andi'n a condition of almost quiescence in the largerdiameter of the container A, during which slowmovement time is allowedfor the, practically complete settling of the precipitated sediment of-.the carbonates which is thrown downat this temperatureand pressure intothe bottom of container A.

From the top of the-container A the partially purified water is drawnoff through pipe Cxby a suction'and'force pump D, which is's'o organizedas to increase the pressure of t is water from no pressure in conder ofthe first container: A live steam pipe 1 ,'corresponding to Y incontainer-A, introduets steai'n of a'much higher temperature andpressure'sufiicient to raise the partially purified water, thiscontainer to approximately one hundred' pounds pressure and 300 F.,- orbelow 'the' boiling point at this pressure. This steam pipe Y? has acontrolling valve 3 and enters a sleeve B concentrically suppprted' 1ncylinder B and corresponding to sleeve B of the other cyl .inder Btofthe first containeix At this high temperature and pressure the sulfatesof the alkaline earths and Y other bases are preclpitated and throwndown through the open lower end of cylinder. B and-the purified waterrises around the.outsideiofcylinder B allowing complete sedimentationto"oc-' cur by the slow movemcnteind the purifiedwater now passes, fromthe action of the force pump, out through the top of the 0011- v tainer,by way of pipe F, to the intermediate '1" expansion tank T. -Intlns'mtermediate; tank T two important results are accom plished: first,the automaticeooling of the purified water without a surface condenserand without exposure to the a1r;'and, sec ondly, the. conservation ofthedisengaged' steam for lIe-USQ in the-container of the first stage.Thiscis accomplished bytheffollowpressure reducing valve P and a levelregulating lioatvalvel-I; The float valve is of any of-thetypeseinployed in water closet ilush tanks to maintain a constant levelof water in tank T, 2'. 6., when the level falls, the float falls andthe valve admits water to theilank T through pipe F and when-thef levelof the water (and the float) rises, the

valvecloses automatically the further 'inflow of water' to-the tank.regulatingreducing valve P 1s shown-1n detail inFig. 3. Its function,is. to reduce The pressure the pressure and also make the fixed'finalpressure independent of the initial pressure. Referring to Fig. 3, F isthe high pressure inlet pipe and the opposite side is the lowv pressureoutlet side. rThe valve shown-is what is knownas the Davis pressureregu'-- lating valve, but any other pressure regulatingreducingw'alvemay be employed; In the form shown 1 is a short cylinder open at top andbot-tom within a valve casing and in'communiration with the higlrpressure pipe F. In the cylint-ler'plays vertically a;

balanced valve consisting of -a stem-2, with upper valve 3 and lowervalve 4. This valve is connected by link 5 with tubular piston 6' incylinderlfl. Stein? connects the piston with external yoke 8 andthis'yoke in turn isconnected to a ring 13 'oflever 9 having on itsendweight 10. I-ligh pr'cssurefluid coming in-pipe F at, say," 1( l0poundsg'issuesi through upper valve 3 and lower -valve 4-? and raises pstonfi againstweighted lveit -Q, eg

95 ing-instrumentalities, v1z.: "an automatic oosaveo ho e w ightsdetermine the reduced pressure on the left hand side of cylinder'l,

- which We will suppose is normally 2Q rounds.

5 p ston .6 rises and closes the balanced valve .3, I it falls, thepiston descends and op ns Wider the balanced valve 3, 4. I

make no claim to this Valve. Now, when p rified Water en ers tank Tthrough 1 1E: Filth?! leech-in tank T is maintained so tcntla lyconstant by the float valve and when the pressure in the tank is reducedby the valve the followingresult takes place in accordance with wellknown physical laws. ,5 When the pressure is reduced in tank T, by thereduoingvalve P, from the high pres sure of 100 pounds and mperature of300 F. or" the container A there is at once in tank T a disengagement ofsteam from said overheated water with both a lowering of temperature andpressure. Thus, if the pressure is reduced from 100 ounds to-20 poundsand the temperature oils from 300 F. in container A. to 260 Frin tankT,the disengagement of latent heat incident to evaporation causes thewater in tank T to be cooled automatically, and without surfacecondenser or exposure to air, to the temperature at which it isdesirable to introduce it be the still, and the disengaged steam passesfrom tank T-through pipe I to the pipe Y, where it mingles with andsupplements ehe low pressure waste steam passing from the still IIItOthe first container. To. bring this gs steam from tank T down from '20pounds to'the lower pressure of 2 pounds employed in pipe Y, a reducingvalve G is -placed in the pipe I, which is of substantially the sameconstruction as that shown at P in Figs. '1

' lieved now of the scale producing constituouts of both the carbonateand sulfate class, is then taken through pipe S from tank T and carriedto tho'still, where it is further purified by distillation according tothe methodlof the patents hereinbefore named, or used fonany otherpurpose to which it u may be'desir'e d to put it.

Incident to the chemical changes which take place in the precipitationof the impurities, there will be disengaged certain corrosive gases,notably carbon dio-Xid, which will accumulate in the top of the 0ontainers and cylinders. The principal porfiotionof these will be found inthe top of cylinders '13 and B and their automatic vent or discharge iseffected by a floatvalve M,-

see Fig. 4;, which opens. anddisohar es the gases whencrer theyaccumulate su ciently $0 to force down the level of the water in the topof the cylinders, the valve closing automatically when the gases escapeand the float rises again.

It Will be seen that the automatically. dis-.

sis charging gas valve M is in the top of the;

If the latter pressure rises, the

containers A and A the-movement is renand3. The cooled, and purifiedwater, r eeasy removal of the cylinders for cleaning toms a".

of the water inth, cylinders B and Biff-rout central cylinder B or B2and its location vthis cylinder and the principal separation of thegases is made to take place her'eimmediately and be easily andautomatically vented before they get into the larger area of the outersettling container, where it would be liable to be re-absorbed and moretroublesome to eliminate and would be liable also to interfere with theaction of the circulating pump. For such gases as accumulate in the topof the containers these lay be discharged from time to time by a valvedvent pipe N, oi. an automatic valve M if desired.

:A modification of; my invention shown in Fig. 5 in which the rawwatcr'is taken in through a large pipe X? and a steam pipe Y enters thesame on the injector principle, the pipe X being turned up into thelower end of cylinder B and taking the place of sleeve B or B In myinvention it will be seen that'th water is purified continuously intransit; that is to say, in the cylinders B and B the I temperatures areadjusted to the precipitation'of the two principal impurities, thecarbonates and the sulfates, and as the water rises on the exterior ofthe cylinders B and B in thefar greater cross section of the dered soslow that time for complete subsidence'of the precipitated impurities isallowed, so that the process is continuously and consecutively carriedon in a practical and eiiicient'manner. A One of the advantages of myinvention, 10.5! in addition to those already named, is that 5 the hightemperature and pressure in the 1 second container perfectly sterilizesthe water of all germs, the value of which is obvious. The advantage ofmaking the opening in the top of the container larger than the'dependingcylinder, and supporting the same by a' collar 25 or 12 is that itpermits the purposes if any incrustation is deposited on its sides, andit also serves as a manhole for entering and cleaning'the container andcylinder, as do also the detachable hoti Jim-I. 152C It will be seenthat the steam pipes Y and Y enter the cylinders B and B at the bottom.This is important; feature in; secuiing the active continuouscirculation convection, for esthe water becomes heated within thesleeves B. B the force of the [steamand also the relatively lighterspecific gravity of the heatedwater cause'it to rise centrallyin thecylinders B andBr? L1 0 to the top of the same and then spread out anddescend along the walls of said cylindcrs and bet ween them and theinner sleeves.

I do not claim broadly the preci itation of the salts of the alkalineearths y heat, as I am aware that this general principle is old and'well known.

I claim:

l. A thermal water purifying apparatus, comprising an outer container, avertical chamber arranged in the container and chamberarranged 1n thecontainer and opening at its lower end into the container.

and closed at its upper end, an automatic gas escape for the upper andof said chamher, means for introducing raw water intothis inner chamber,a steam pipe communicating with the chan'iber at the lower end of thesame, and a discharge opening'for the bottom of the container.

3. A thermal water purifying apparatus, comprising an outer container, avertical chamber arranged in the container and cpeningnt its lower endinto the container and closed at its upper end, a gas escape for theupper end of the chamber, means for introducing raw water into the innerchamher, a steam pipe communicating with the lower end of the innerchamber, and asleeve surronmling this steam pipe and entering the lowerend of said inner chamber.

4. A. thermal'water purifying apparatus, con'iprisii'ig an outercontainer, a vertical chamber arranged in the container and opening atits lower'cnd into'the container and closed at its upper end, a gasescape for the upper; end of the chamber, means for introducing rawWater into the inner chamber, a steam pipe on municating with the lowerend of the inner chamber, and a sleeve surroumling this steam pipe andentering the lower endof'said inner ehamhen'said sleeve opening at itsupper end into the inner chamber and at its lower end into. the outercontainer.

An apparatus for the thermal purification of water, comprising twovessels, each having an inlet pipe for water and an inlet pipe forsteam, an intermediate pump for mmping water of a low pressure in onevessel to a high pressure in the other. and an intermediate closedvessel connected to thewater vessel of high pressure tl'irough apressure regulating valve and level regulatpipe for steam, anintermediate pump for pumpingwater of alow pressure 1n one vesselto ahigh pressure 1n the other and an mtermediate closed vessel connected tothe water vessel of high pressure through a.

a pressure regulating valve and level regulating valve and connectedalso to the inlet steam pipe of the initially heating vessel through apressure reducing valve, the inlet pipes for steam entering thevesselsat the lower portions of the same.

7. An apparatus fort-he thermal purification of water, comprising'twosimilar vessels, each consisting of an outer closed shell and an innercylinderop'ening'at its bottom into the outer shell and rising "abovethe level of the shell at the top and having a water inlet pipe, a steaminlet pipe and a gas outletpa pump for transferring the water from oneshell into the inner cylinder of the other shell, and an intermediateclosed vessel with pipe communicating Withthe second shell and having apressure reducing valve and levelregnlating valve, and a second pipeconnectin" said intermediate vessel with the steam inlet of thecylinderof the first heating vessel and having in it a pressure reducing valve.i

8. An apparatus for the thermal purification of water, comprising twosimilar vessels, each consisting of an outer closed shell and an innercylinder opening at its bottom into the outer shell and rising above thelevel of the shell at the top and having a water inlet pipe, a steaminletpipe and a gas outlet, a pump for transferring the Water.

the other shell. and an intermediate closed vessel with, pipecommunicating with the second 'shell and having a pressure reducingvalve and level regulatingvalve, and a second pipe connecting saidintermediate vessel with steam inlet, of the cylinder of the first.heating vessel and having in it a pressure reducing valve. the .inlet'pipesfor from one shell into the inner cylinder of t hearing areas,means for producing a'differentaemperature and pressure in one containerfrom the temperature and pressure in the other container, and means forreducing the temperature and pressure of the high pressure containerconsisting of a zlosed evaporating chamber.

I In testimony whereof, I my signa- 1 ture in presence of two witnesses.

i HORACE F. HQDG-ES.

Q WVit-nesses: I G. R. RIDGEWAY? J. R. BRIDGEFORD.

